You have to be kidding right. People didnt vote not because of requiring a reddit login, its because everyone and their mother knew what the results of this poll would be well in advance.

This sub has essentially grown into an american based electronic artist appreciation board. It leans super heavy on american acts which are all amazing in their own right but no where near the top djs or producers.

The subscriber count increases cause illenium and virtual self got bigger and this board is an easy karma machine to talk about them.

Its a popularity contest always. People don't actually care about the music as a medium for artistic language. That's why you see solid producers who got popular making poppy music, who keep making mediocre pop edm, (ie Garrix, Illenium) get all the attention. It appeals to everyone always. And that's great that they can appeal to the largest common denominator but it really stagnates skilled and practiced producers to rehash the same music using slight different synth and melodies (ie Illenium, TCS)

This is the kinda stuff that makes me question if I ever belong here. I’m subbed because I tell people I listen to EDM and maybe 1/10 songs posted here sound good to me, but then again I lean towards the poppier stuff which everyone here seems to hate (chainsmokers, etc.) Am I even in the right place or do I have it all wrong?

I think in a sub that contains such a diverse fan base sometimes people can develop an elitist attitude towards artists they don't like. I don't like absolutely everything here either, but I feel that the most important thing is to not shit on people for their opinions. Even if I don't personally enjoy something I like to understand what makes them like it.

Also, poppy EDM has a huge impact on the genre overall that some people won't recognize. It can introduce people to the genre. How many people probably first started listening to Martin Garrix, but have now found themselves interested in Boombox Cartel?

I like all edm, and I enjoy the people on the top ten, and those are the ones i list bc they are popular and I remember their names. A lot of the times I'll listen to songs and blindly add them to my playlist. Like I saw Brooks was on the list, I looked him up, and saw his top 5 songs were on my playlist, so I guess I'm a fan of his. So maybe people are just listing who they know.

DJing isn't only about producing high quality sound. It's also about producing something your audience can feel and relate to.

Illenium might not be one of the most objectively talented producers in the world, but the reason people love his songs so much is the reason he's #2.

As much as people think this should have been an objective list, there's no way it was going to be one. I think a lot of dubstep artists have great sound production, mixing, mastering, etc. but I don't even remember their names because I don't care for the music.

I completely agree with this whole thread. I go to so many shows and I do love illenium and some of the more future bass stuff. But Zeds dead will always have my heart those guys are so amazing. Also Tipper’s sets are wild I highly recommend listening to CloZee if you don’t already!

Well he now does Virtual Self, idk either why people still voted Porter instead of VS

In fairness, you guys had absolutely no criteria in the poll. Everyone in the comments seem to be annoyed with the results, but what were we supposed to be basing it off of?

The poll states " It is finally time. Our Top 100 DJs vote is open and you can vote for your Top 5 DJs this year. "

Maybe people are voting for the artist that released their favorite song of 2018. Maybe they voted for an artist that they saw at a festival and thought they were incredible. Maybe people are voting for their favorite artist ever, and happen to be voting this year. Maybe they voted for a DJ they just discovered this year and dig their vibe.

My point is that there were no voting guidelines, criteria, or even instructions. You just said "vote for your top 5 this year".

It’s just a circlejerk. I absolutely love porter but if you visit the porter robinson subreddit, it’s a complete circlejerk and continuous discrediting DJs who are growing as if Porter created a new type of music

I started going to shows in 2013 and since then I've been to plenty of shows ranging from ultra Miami to warehouses in LA and plenty in between. My advice is this.. Fuck other people's opinions on who's the better "dj". Just go have fun. Don't take life too seriously.

I think the idea of separating "DJ's" from "Producers" is a ship that sailed long long ago in EDM. A good producer has to DJ (or at least pretend to) and a good DJ has to produce (or at least pretend to) if they want to have a shot of making any top 100 list.

Good list. Sure some positions are disappointing like Porter Robinson (not talking about Virutal Self place which is fully deserved of course) or Madeon who haven't released stuff for ages, but there are still plenty of talented artists getting the recognition they deserve. Ekali, Arty, ZHU, Brooks, DROELOE, Matisse & Sadko, Ilan Bluestone, Lane 8, Boombox Cartel... you name it.

Anyone who says this list isn't far better than DJ Mag top 100 cannot be taken seriously. Those guys above didn't make it to DJ Mag top 100 and instead you have R3hab at #12, DVBBS at #16, no-names that buy votes, super mediocre DJs only big in their county (Brazil, China) or jokes like Danny Avila or MATTN. I mean how can we get worse than girl who's "Top 100 DJ" just becouse she's sucking Dimitri Vegas' dick?

Everyone is hating on the results but I think this is better than the DJ Mag list. At least here San Holo, Whatsonot, and Ilan Bluestone made the list and each of them put incredible albums this year. You do have some misplacements but overall I say its a decent list.

That's fair but I don't understand how he can't be considered a top 100 dj. Same with pretty lights. They are some of the best live shows I've seen and it's not even on par with half the other artists on here.

What about some sort of rule limiting the “pool” of potential acts to choose from? Clearly the sub skews heavily to producers - fine. But disallow producers who haven’t dropped a song in 2 years. Sorry, Madeon has no business anywhere near a “best of 2018” list, nor does Porter.

If you wanna do it on best DJs that’s fine, but have some threshold for that. Exclude artists that play identical sets. I.e Rezz, and only allow artists with at least a baseline amount of song selection talent (A&B and illenium, for example, have at least a modest amount of variability in their songs).

Perhaps create some sort of genre balancing. It was a great year for “American” EDM but same with other genres. For example, between releasing Your Mind (which none of us could avoid hearing if we wanted to) and doing highly acclaimed B2Bs with Cox and Cirez d, Adam Beyer should be on this list, but isn’t anywhere close.

It's hard to do that because there is no real list from artists where I can just exclude some, it just ends in me doing a shitload of work and probably 10% of the votes being valid because people still vote for X.

And if I block a certain list of people that I write together, there will be another 100 that are probably worse at DJing than the blocked DJ is, so the list would be endless.

Next year's vote will probably be titled "Best Producer" instead and I will add a message saying "please vote for the best producer, not your favorite artist."

Circlejerkers will still vote for their favorites, but at least some of the smart(er) people won't. Can't do much more than that unfortunately.

Yeah I absolutely hear ya, and making more work for you only to end with a similarly skewed result doesn’t make sense. Just trying to brainstorm ways to narrow the focus. “Best producer” is probably helpful. Encouraging people to vote only for those with recent-ish releases (even without enforcing it as a rule) might be good.

Even for casual listeners and new-to-edm folks It’s super easy to go on Spotify, look at an artist’s page, see when their most recent release was, and not lay votes into folks who haven’t had any recent content.

I don't understand how Yheti isn't on here at all.. or Alison Wonderland and Ill-Esha, CloZee.. Kasbo should be higher up on the list for sure. Kittens.. Paris Hilton there are multiple "Female" artists that haven't earned a mention, I can't imagine as to why...

Once again, I feel like people look at this as who is the better producer. Personally when I submit my votes for this or the DJ Mag vote (I know, I kwow) I base it off all of the Artists I saw live, streamed, or listened to their sets.

People always seem to pick the biggest producer. I am voting based off how well their sets were crafted over the past year, how engaged the audience was, music selection, and the overall feeling that I come out of it with. I see many people complaining where their favorite artist ended up but personally it's a vote and everyone interprets what DJ means differently. Some people vote based off what tracks came out, etc. People need to understand that the term DJ is fluid and all depends on who you ask.